


She Says It Too Much

by Peachmangoflavored



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Little bit of angst here and there, Platonic Relationships, Some Humor, i'll add more tags as i add more chapters, just an all around good time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-01-20 13:24:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12433767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peachmangoflavored/pseuds/Peachmangoflavored
Summary: The sole survivor's personal philosophy is to always tell people she loves that she loves them, as you never know when they'll be gone forever. This is the first time she says it to each companion.Each chapter title is the song I listened to while writing it.





	1. La Vie En Rose (Cait)

**Author's Note:**

> So this is entirely self-indulgent fluff but hey! I love seeing other people's self-indulgent fluff, so maybe someone will like mine! Idk if I'll ever get to all the companions but I mean. I'm trying.

It was nearly silent in the commonwealth the first time she said it.

On the top of a crumbling overpass, in the shell of an old bus, Cait and Kayla had made camp for the night. The regular noises of the world were nearly nonexistent, too far down below to each even the most sensitive of ears. The sky was clear and the wind was nothing but a crisp breeze, enough to keep air flowing but not enough to stir up anything heavier than hair. Little white stars lit up the otherwise pitch black sky where the sliver of pale moon failed to, and everything, for once, was peaceful.

Cait's mind, however, was not peaceful. As she lay down on the roof of the bus next to Kayla, arm under her head as a makeshift pillow, her gut felt like a ball of molten lead. For nearly a month now she had been distracted, a jumbled ball of unspoken thoughts and unfamiliar emotions she couldn't bear to handle on her own. Getting clean from psycho was supposed to clear her mind as well as her body, but she almost preferred the dull roar it provided to her current situation. She felt muddled and confused after the initial moments of clarity, after her mind turned from getting clean to the person who made that happen.

The general. The paladin. The agent. The sole survivor of vault 111. To Cait, she was just Kayla. 

Kayla was Cait's best friend, there was no way around it. No one else picked her up out of nowhere, showed her true compassion and camaraderie, listened to all her problems and said "I can fix that." Kayla was Cait's best friend, but she wasn't Kayla's. She never came to Cait with her problems, never asked Cait to carry her load; as far as Cait knew, she never did that to any of her friends. Cait felt as though Kayla had built up walls in the same style as the Castle, but there was no mirelurk queen to knock them down. Cait wasn't sure what hurt her most: that she bared her soul, her problems, the ugliest part of her being, to this woman who won't let her guard down enough to do the same, or the fact that there was something stopping her dearest friend from opening up to anyone at all.

Cait had done her best to block out this unfamiliar insecurity and worry with drinking and laughing and working. That worked initially, but when Kayla asked her to come with her and go clear out a nest of Gunners that were causing trouble for a nearby settlement, Cait's problems seemed to be staring her in the face again, and she couldn't duck away. Laying next to Kayla, the world so quiet she hear her breathing, Cait couldn't stand her thoughts any longer and opened her mouth to speak. Before she could draw in a breath, Kayla seemed to have the same idea.

"Hey.... Cait?" She said gently, not taking her eyes off the sky. Cait was simultaneously grateful and upset that she was interrupted before she could speak.

"Yeah Kayla?" Cait said. She nearly winced at the breathiness of her voice; like a little kid working up the courage to talk to their first crush. She heard the rustling of cloth against the metal roof of the bus and suddenly a warm hand held her wrist, softly, as if asking for permission.

"I love you."

Cait's breath caught in her throat. She felt frozen in her place. When she finally looked over at her best friend, Kayla's gaze tore away from the stars to smile at Cait. She just barely laughed, more of a breathy sigh, and flexed her fingertips that held Cait's wrist. When Cait copied her movement, she took that as a sign to continue and laced her fingers with Cait's, looking back up at the sky with a warm smile. Cait had a million things she wanted to say, questions to ask, feelings to express, but right now she felt that if there was some kind of magic in the world, this was it. She didn't want to break this moment for anything, and just turned to the stars, savoring the warmth in her hand.

 

When Cait woke up, she was tucked into her bedroll, sunlight streaming through the cracked bus windows. As she stretched, the familiar scent of pan-fried molerat bacon wafted in from outside, and the events of last night suddenly hit her. Getting up and out of the bus, Cait saw Kayla bent over a small fire cooking breakfast, only sparing Cait a warm smile before turning back to her work. Cait opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again, and instead sat by Kayla and leaned against her shoulder. Kayla hummed some unfamiliar pre-war tune that somehow made Cait feel right at home, and although her thoughts and emotions needed to be discussed, the molten lead in her stomach was gone.

Kayla loved her back, and for now, that was enough.


	2. Splish Splash (Deacon)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you guys have half as much fun reading this as I did writing it, you're gonna have a lot of fun. :D   
> Still trying to learn Deacon's personality a bit more though, I think I need more practice with him.

Six hours.

Six hours of absolutely nothing. 

Deacon, although typically patient, thought he was going to lose his mind out here. He already figured this little "stakeout" mission was nothing more than an excuse to get him and Fixer out of HQ so they could have some peace, so when this long time passed and his thoughts were all but confirmed he just stopped caring. Fixer next to him seemed far more patient than he was. She had barely moved a muscle the entire time, eyes constantly scanning for the "institute threat" they were warned about. Supposedly, there was a courser nearby. Supposedly, the apocalypse never happened.

"Alright Kayla," he said, using her real name over her codename, "I think it's about time we packed up and head in. Something tells me that this courser wasn't exactly... Real." 

"Maybe it was just a deathclaw in a black coat." She said, a ghost of a grin settling on her face. 

"Maybe it was just a feral wrapped in a black sheet." He shot back, grinning widely.

"Maybe it was an oily mirelurk."

"Maybe it was a black cat!"

"A particularly dark bush?"

"A really skinny yai- yal- yagee?"

"Maybe it was Alex?"

The last one caught Deacon by surprise, and honestly made him a bit uncomfortable. He didn't like that Kayla was running around with a courser in tow, and especially didn't like how she would leave the courser at the same settlements as escaped synths. X6-88, or Alex, as Kayla called him, was just too volatile a variable for Deacon's taste. 

Kayla didn't notice his face fell and kept on chuckling at her own joke. Deacon tried his best not to kill her good mood.

"Could you imagine if we waited all night for your own BCF to show up?" He said.

"BCF?" She asked.

"Best courser friend." She groaned slightly, though she giggled as she thought about it.

"Alright, alright. Back to work. You never know if that tourist actually did see something out here." She said, turning back to the empty crossroads. Deacon shrugged before he sat back in the decrepit kitchen they were hiding out in and let his mind wander for some time. There were a few minutes of peace before Deacon suddenly piped up.

"Do you think molerats have feelings?"

Kayla was so taken aback by his sudden question she choked on air. Despite her best efforts to suppress her laughter, she let out a series of high-pitched squeaking noises that always made Deacon himself laugh. He didn't see her arm pull back until it was a second too late and she punched him in the gut, telling him how terrible his joke was in between her giggling. Although she was weakened by her laughter and didn't really want to hurt him, she still landed a solid punch and he doubled over, half from laughing at her and half from pain. Their laughter went on for a little while but was interrupted by the sudden sound of mechanical joints moving. 

Out of an alley across the way a squad of gen 2 synths strode out, weapons pointed at the laughing pair. Kayla and Deacon both sobered up immediately and Kayla shot out of her seat, clearing her brown curls out of her face so the synths could run their facial recognition properly. They recognized her and lowered their weapons, and she motioned for Deacon to do the same. 

Deacon felt tense, ready to spring away at any moment. He knew that the synths wouldn't attack Kayla, but they still put him on the edge. A heavily armored one, clearly the leader, focused in on his face, heightening his anxiety.

"Current companion of the future director unknown. Hold still so I may properly scan-" the synth was cut off by a bullet to the head. The surrounding synths whipped their weapons out and scanned the surroundings for the attacker, unaware that Kayla had just tore their leader apart. Deacon watched as Kayla went completely stiff, eyes unfocused and darting about wildly for a very short moment before she fired off five perfect shots into each of the synths' heads, downing them all in less than three seconds. However many times Deacon watched her use VATS, the attainment of perfect control she achieved always made his skin crawl.

"Whew. Glad that's over. Couldn't just let them scan you, ya know? It would decimate my reputation underground." She said, absentmindedly reloading her .44.

"Jeez Kayla, I know I'm not exactly upper class but I'm not social suicide, am I?" Kayla was yet again caught off guard, but instead she bypassed her usual laughter and went straight to closing her eyes and shaking, doubled over in the effort of laughing so hard. The stress of the situation had defused and Deacon began laughing too, louder than her, until they were both sprawled out in the dirt laughing. After a minute, Kayla stopped laughing enough to take in a few shaky breaths and look Deacon in the eye, and they both dissolved back into fits of laughter. This went on for a few more rounds before they were both red in the face. Kayla clutched her stomach with one hand and wiped her eyes with the other.

"Holy shit Deacon, I fucking love you."

He was suddenly very grateful that she was too caught up in laughter to look at him, as his face went blank and he was at a loss for words.


	3. Don’t Stop Me Now (Strong)

“Ok Strong, here’s the plan.” Kayla said, readying her weapon and glancing around for any extra danger. Strong shifted his grip on his lighted super sledge, listening to her with as much intense concentration as he could muster. Standing outside the doors of the BADTFL office, Kayla gave him instructions on how their operation was going to go.

“I need to sneak in there, and get a minuteman out.” She said, emphasizing the word minuteman. Strong, however focused on the word sneak instead. 

“Strong not want to sneak, Strong want to fight!” He said. He mercifully kept his voice low, but he was still the loudest thing in the area. Kayla glanced at her pip-boy’s area scanner for any unwanted attention before continuing. 

“That’s the best part! I’m going to need a distraction. You get to run in there and be as loud as possible.” Strong’s whole face lit up at her words. 

“You can yell, laugh, swing that sledgehammer around. Get as loud and bloody as possible!” She kept her words simple for his understanding. His face showed unrestrained delight, and she had to suppress a giggle. Her fighting style was usually quick and quiet, so he loved every chance he got to go all out.

“Just make sure you don’t hit me, or the person I’m touching. Ok big guy?” Strong nodded eagerly, and she took the chance to open the front doors of the old police station. Strong took three uncharacteristically careful steps in before glancing back at Kayla. Seeing her smiling face, he let out a booming bellow and slammed his super sledge into the nearest table before crashing through the next set of doors. Kayla listened for the terrified screams and curses before slipping in the side doors on silent feet.

In an ancient jail cell she found the missing minuteman, some poor farmer who strayed too far from home while hunting and ended up getting caught. She was within arm’s distance before his head snapped up in fear, but the recognition and joy on his face was clear. 

“Oh thank god you’re here!” He said as she cut his ropes and helped him up. “I don’t know what they were gonna do to me, and I swear I just heard a super mutant-“

As if on cue, an excited yell of “smashie smashie!” sounded through the walls, followed by the sound of human bones cracking under the heavy swing of a super sledge. The minuteman flashed Kayla a look of fear.

“Oh yeah, that’s Strong. He’s a minuteman in training.” The man’s face paled, eyes as big as saucers. Kayla held her hand out, looking in the direction of the gunshots and terrified screams.

“Also, you may want to hold my hand, unless you wanna get ‘smashie smashied.’ Strong can’t really tell friend from foe yet.” The man’s hand shot out to hold hers in a vice grip. She tugged him through the splintering wood doors, despite his desperate pull in the other direction.

They entered the room to see Strong’s back, super sledge held over his head. He giggled madly as he swung downward and a spray of blood spattered the wall and floor, another body joining the steaming pile of smashed corpses. The most of the room was peppered with smoking bullet holes and splinters of crushed wood, and they could hear the remaining raiders running for their lives in the other direction. 

“Playtime’s over big guy. We got the minuteman, let’s go.” Kayla said casually, barely noticing as the man holding her hand emptied the meager contents of his stomach onto the floor. 

“Aww, but Strong want to kill more!” Strong pouted like a disappointed toddler, but he still followed as Kayla tugged the still-lurching man out of the building. They exited the building and stepped into the mid-afternoon sun, Kayla tucking her weapon into its holster on her hip and giving the minuteman a moment to breathe. 

“Strong still think we should fight more!” Strong said, voice raising to its normally high volume. He flicked his super sledge off and glanced back toward the police office they just left. 

“I, ummm, don’t like that idea...” the minuteman choked out, giving the General a worried look. She glanced at the sky, judging how much daylight they had left, and told Strong that they were done for the day. Strong made a “hmph” noise, not too unlike that of a bratty kid. Kayla was turning to explain to him that they just need to get this man home safely when a round red object rolled down the gentle slope of a street to land falling against her boots with a wet ‘splorch’. All three people peered at it curiously until the minuteman spoke up. 

“Oh my god, that’s a human skull-!” He cried out, face going paler than Kayla thought possible. At once, a deafening roar sounded out in front of them, giant footsteps crunching into the old paved road.

“Deathclaw!” Strong exclaimed in obvious delight, lighting up his super sledge again and preparing to attack.

“Deathclaw!” Kayla echoed a second later, free hand numbly moving to the .44 on her hip.

“Deathclaw....” the minuteman whispered, suddenly very accepting of his impending death. He’d had a good life, as far as commonwealth lives go. He was a simple farmer, never hurt anyone, never got into trouble, except he stole his brother’s Grognak the barbarian when he was eleven years old and he got a nasty spanking for that so all was good in the end- 

He was suddenly unceremoniously shoved toward the police office with a hissed order to hide, and he shrank down as small as he could in the overgrown shrubbery. 

Kayla took off running to the right, desperately reaching for the plasma rifle on her back and glancing around for some terrain that could give her an advantage. Nothing but dead trees to her right and the dirty harbor to her left, meaning it was up to her quick wit to take this one down. She dimly heard Strong yelling for the deathclaw to face him instead as it sprinted toward her on all fours. She fumbled with her plasma rifle as she cut a sharp turn and it tumbled out of her hands, only to get caught on the claw of the fast approaching deathclaw and end up careening away far down the street. She cursed her luck and and pulled her tiny .44, turning on a dime and firing three rounds into the deathclaw’s belly and another three into it’s head, just shy of the eyes. 

The deathclaw leaped for her and she dodged in the nick of time, reloading and backpedaling back into the street. Strong had yet to catch up when the deathclaw turned around to charge again, and she made the fatal mistake of holding her ground instead of running. The deathclaw was on her before she could even activate VATS, scooping her up into the air as it rose on its hind legs. It roared into her face, spraying her with steaming bloody spit as it unfurled the claws of its left hand in order to skewer her. She closed her eyes, realizing this was her end and managing a weak smile as she went out-

A sudden yell came from behind the deathclaw and she crashed to the ground left arm first, nearly blacking out from the pain as her bones crushed underneath her. She managed pull herself up on her good elbow and saw Strong, looking more like a regular super mutant than her good friend, just a few feet away from her as he smashed his super sledge into the deathclaw’s skull over and over until it’s skull finally caved in. He scrutinized the body for a moment, as if he thought a deathclaw could get up after it’s head is reduced to a steaming hot bowl of blood and brains soup. He poked the head with his toe and finally came to the conclusion the deathclaw was really dead and not coming back anytime soon. Strong dropped his weapon and threw his fist to his chest, letting out the jolliest laugh a super mutant could produce.

“Bwahahaha! Now that was a good fight. Deathclaws make good enemies for Strong and not-so-little human.” He said, suddenly remembering his friend in the ground next to him. 

“Is human hurt? Can you walk?” Strong said. He held out his hand to help her up. Kayla had to suppress her laughter at his sudden genuine concern and accepted his helping hand with her good one. Strong clapped her on the back and she squeaked, causing for strong to laugh even louder. 

“You were good distraction for Strong! Strong and not-so-little human make good team.” He said, watching as she dug through her bag before pulling out two stimpacks and uncapping then with her teeth. 

“Holy shit Strong, I love you. You just saved my sorry ass!” She said, feeling better as she pushed the stimpacks through the bruised skin of her left shoulder. 

“What is love? Strong confused!” He said. Kayla, still running on the adrenaline of almost dying, began to laugh hysterically. Strong pouted again, annoyed at being ignored as Kayla laughed.

“Ok it’s like.... what you say to a brother who, if they died, you would be very sad about.” She said carefully, still laughing a bit as she did so.

“Oh.” His non-existent eyebrows furrowed for a second. “Strong love not-so-little human then!” He grinned. She beamed up at him in return, patting his hand.

“Aww thank you Strong. It’s nice to know you really care.” 

 

The minuteman, still hiding in the bushes, decided he would be better off staying where he is until the General called him. 

“What the fuck is wrong with this woman.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVE. Also, I have no idea how to write action scenes. Hopefully this makes sense after my three month break from writing ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
